History textbooks in the United States are far too fact-based and even have the ability to make students feel as though all history is made up of “Quick-Facts” and diagrams, not dynamic events to be critically analyzed. Furthermore, it is often the case that textbooks are given undue authority in determining the curriculum; many teachers simply “teach the book.”

This is particularly disturbing when considering the fact that state committees for choosing textbooks often treat them, in the words of Sandra Wong, “more like encyclopedias of facts than as cultural products that convey values and perspectives” when deciding which ones to pick. In her article “Evaluating the Content of Textbooks: Public Interests and Professional Authority,” Wong discusses how textbook committees are rarely concerned with the actual substance of the writing 10 in the textbooks they evaluate, and are far more interested in things like “charts, illustrations, and introductory outlines.”

What, then, would be a better tool to use in the high school classroom than textbooks or timelines for creating an effective learning environment that could reflect the dynamic nature of historical study? Out of all the various alternatives—going to plays, hearing speakers, listening to 15 music, using interactive online resources, elucidating connections to students’ personal lives by going to local history museums or having students write autobiographical essays, etc.—the most promising is, by far, film. Movies are a magnificent way into history for even the most resistant naysayer of historical study.

Which of the following is not cited by the passage as an alternative method for historical study?

(A)Listening to music
(B)Attending a lecture
(C)Volunteering at an archeology dig
(D)Writing a personal statement
(E)Watching a film



2. The purpose of the passage is to

(A)support the film industry
(B)criticize government education policies
(C)advocate a new process for textbook adoption
(D)propose increased use of a particular didactic tool
(E)denigrate an established philosophy



3. According to the passage, a problem with state committee textbook selection is

(A)the lack of education of the committee members
(B)misplaced priorities
(C)the dominance of larger states
(D)valuing perspectives instead of facts
(E)personal prejudices